My First Mead?

[Arkiegold]

Hey ya'll, nice forum. ;D

I'm not sure if it's actually a mead, melomel or some other official name since I added some other things so somebody will have to be so kind to let me know.

First I will say I've made some batches of wine so this isn't my first fermentation, just my first one with honey. I guess you could say I'm the 'doin it cheap" type, we only ever made wine with juice or fruit, sugar and a pinch of bakers yeast. It never lasted long enough to add any stabilizer or anything else. I have a hydrometer but never used it. I do use Star-San.

Okay, here's what I did, exact as I can remember. Got a quart of local raw honey for Christmas and decided to give it a go after viewing a few mead video's.

My primary fermenter is a 2-gallon glass cookie jar with lid.

My sis-in-law makes some fine muscadine wine and jelly and so I got a half-pint of jelly for Christmas also and figured to add this into the batch. Didn't have any pectic enzyme so instead I put this jelly in a pan with some spring water and heated it till dissolved, along with two Beano tablets. I read somewhere that Beano would help with breaking down the jelly. Remembering somebody gave me a half-pint of pomegranate syrup that was supposed to be jelly but didn't turn out, I added that also. 12/28/17.

I poured the remaining spring water, one-gallon total into the primary, poured the liquid jelly mix in and then the quart of honey and stirred it till the honey was dissolved. I didn't use bakers yeast for this, instead I had purchased a packet of Lalvin 71B-1122. Pitched and put the lid on. This stayed in the primary jar until the foaming stopped, about a week and was racked into a gallon glass jug with airlock.

So it's been working a month today and yesterday I took a pic. It started clearing up a week or so ago and better than I expected, well, I didn't know what to expect. I kind of figured the Beano wouldn't do a thing and it would end up hazy from the jelly pectin. Still bubbling and I can barely see a very fine amount of yeast falling against the rising bubbles when a light is shone through it. There's not as much as there was since I had to sample a little to make sure it was ok.

The muscadine is the dominant flavor right now. Since I didn't use the hydrometer I can't say the abv but it's there for sure. Stronger than bread yeast wine. It's just a tad on the sweet side. I can taste the honey too. Can't tell anything of the pomegranate except the color is there a little around the edges.

The picture is in my profile and avatar. I guess I'm not allowed to upload photo's in posts.

 

[ddavis1979]

I am so new to mead making, I am not qualified to advise anyone. the clarity of the must in your picture is impressive to me, but the process of what you describe above is simply bizarre. You mixed muscadine jelly, pom syrup, honey and OTC Beano and fermented it in a cookie jar that I assume was not air tight. I have no idea what you have created, but the adventurer in me wants to try some LOL! I would have liked to see your OG and FG readings to get a feel for ABV and successful ferment, but in the mean time, as a pioneer in the exotic fermenting world, think of what you want to name this Frankenstein of sweet fermented beverage.

 

[Arkiegold]

I am so new to mead making, I am not qualified to advise anyone. the clarity of the must in your picture is impressive to me, but the process of what you describe above is simply bizarre. You mixed muscadine jelly, pom syrup, honey and OTC Beano and fermented it in a cookie jar that I assume was not air tight. I have no idea what you have created, but the adventurer in me wants to try some LOL! I would have liked to see your OG and FG readings to get a feel for ABV and successful ferment, but in the mean time, as a pioneer in the exotic fermenting world, think of what you want to name this Frankenstein of sweet fermented beverage.

I always use the cookie jar for gallon size primary fermentation in all my wine making, die-hard glass user here, the lid just sits on there and rack it to a gallon jug under airlock after the foaming stops. This allows secondary fill up to very close to the bung without fear of bubbling out. I reckon if I used the hydrometer it would say it's time to rack when the foaming stops. Only a guess since I never have used it but can see if I'm going to get along in here I need to start. My theory is that the sugar is sticky and makes the foamy bubbles and after it's converted to a point, it no longer is sticky enough to allow the bubbles to form into those that spew out the airlock. They bust immediately at the surface.

After reading some I reckon it's officially a melomel. I'll call it something if it tastes good and something else if it doesn't. It continues to get more and more clear. Gasoline is also clear, among other things. ;D

 

[Arkiegold]

I am so new to mead making, I am not qualified to advise anyone. the clarity of the must in your picture is impressive to me, but the process of what you describe above is simply bizarre. You mixed muscadine jelly, pom syrup, honey and OTC Beano and fermented it in a cookie jar that I assume was not air tight. I have no idea what you have created, but the adventurer in me wants to try some LOL! I would have liked to see your OG and FG readings to get a feel for ABV and successful ferment, but in the mean time, as a pioneer in the exotic fermenting world, think of what you want to name this Frankenstein of sweet fermented beverage.

I made a reply yesterday but it never showed up. Said it had to be approved by a mod first. I forgot to write about in the OP, I add 1 tablespoon of a 50/50 powder mix of Bentonite and Diatomaceous Earth to all my wines, into the primary, usually sanitizing it in a little water on the stove. In this case it was added to the pot of heated Jelly, Pom syrup and Beano tabs. That could be a contributing factor why this has cleared so well quickly. I find this really helps the primary lees to settle faster and better than without and more wine can be racked off the primary without as much sediment being sucked up.

 

[Arkiegold]

Created a blog I will add the web address into my profile for anybody who may wish to follow my madness. More as a photo host and personal record than anything. Let's see if I can post a larger photo of the jug now.

There's another 1.3 gallon Italian carboy batch of a plain mead in the back to the right, just honey, water and yeast at this point, started on 1/13. I thought maybe later adding some peaches or something, depending on the flavor of it. To the front right, a batch of Paw Paw's "Doin It Cheap", Cran-Pom-Cherry wine. Don't knock until you try it. Stuff is delicious!

 

[Arkiegold]

I suspect the tiny amount of bubbles that were rising were due to off-gassing. The batch was racked and Star-San sanitized marbles rinsed with distilled water take up the head space.

First time I ever used marbles. When the jug is rotated sharply, they move around creating a stirring action and de-gassing is very evident. The rotating also dislodges bubbles clinging to the edges of the jug.

If the flavor now is any indication of how it will be, I'm going to be a Melomel lover! Right now it's probably one of the best tasting alcoholic beverages I've ever had. Sweet enough to be very pleasing but not overly and not as sweet as the first tasting. Fruity Honey, though the muscadine has somewhat lessened, with a alcohol bite I expect will mellow out in time according to what I've read here. For my first honey based beverage I'm very pleased. It's far better currently than any wine I ever made.

So now I need to try and duplicate it, which may be somewhat difficult to be exact far as the fruit components but will have a go at it. Would be great if others could try to duplicate it also for verification.

 

[Arkiegold]

So it's not just me. Shared a 375 ml. bottle of this with my boss who gave me an old jar of dark honey the other day and he took it home. His wife said she didn't like wine when he told her it was some honey wine I made but when she tasted, the reaction was "oh my gosh, this is delicious". They both enjoyed it very much. I explained it was called a Melomel, not to be confused with wine but regardless, the gallon is almost gone. I must say, it's "different" from wine in every aspect. I'm hooked. ;D

 

[Squatchy]

Muscadine in the mead makes it a pyment not a mel.

 

[Arkiegold]

Muscadine in the mead makes it a pyment not a mel.

Thanks.

 

[Ken2029]

Hey, Arkie. Whereabouts are you. I'm in NW Arkansas. PM me, if you prefer.